Been awhile

Not a lot happening.
We wait to see who takes the next step.
The NHL and the NHLPA will meet again tomorrow. Someone is going to have to break the stalemate. Someone is going to have to make an offer.
The players missed their first payday Monday. The next one is Oct. 30th. Escrow cheques of approximately $150 million will go out Oct. 25th. More games are going to be axed this week.
This isn’t a good atmosphere folks.
Someone needs to make the next move.
Someone needs to make the next offer.
This isn’t just costing the people who aren’t playing and opening the doors of arenas. It is costing the people who own shops, restaurants and work at the buildings.
Both sides have dug in.
Somebody needs to at least see if they can find some common ground. You have to think the players move a little bit.
Might even happen tomorrow.
Who knows?

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12 comments

Who knows and increasingly, who cares Bruce. You would have to be a dumbass to think that your lost income will ever be recovered. Just ask any of those who sat out the season 8 years ago. Those with the deepest pockets will last the longest and they happen to own the teams. Those players who have made many millions of dollars don’t share the same issues and the 80% who earn the least. Are the players getting the best advice…I don’t think so. Will a 50-50 split really hurt them? Are they really arguing over the definition of NHL generated revenue? Seriously? It is reminiscent of Randy-Billy Clinton asking” “what is…is”?

BTW Bruce weren’t you excited about The Hoff registering 7 points in 2 games in pre-season? What about Andre getting 4 in 2 games? In what other paper did the article on the Sens first regular season game get published and isn’t it interesting that Dave watched it and had much more to say (that wasn’t so GD Swedish centric)?

I suspect the team wouldn’t have won without the efforts of Boro. I know they wouldn’t have won without the efforts of Mike Hoffman. No there isn’t a lot going on in the NHL and as I said, who cares, but there is a lot to chat abouth with the Baby Sens!

The question was asked by a writer in the Sun chain what Bettman whispered to Lord Burke; I suspect he could of said a few things but the one that makes the most sense is: “should things continue to go south for you in Hog Town, as long as I am the Commish, there is a job waiting for you as a member of my team”!

let them rot in hell
we pay the freight
we get no say
I hope when and if they do settle, people stay away in droves
imagine to spoilt groups of rich people fighting over who gets the most of what they rape from the customers

Will we fans change our opinion of the NHL if Bettman hires a political spin doctor? Seriously Smug Smurph? IMO, again, it supports the notion that Bettman is an arrogant man and truly believes were are all fickle morons.

It is sad to think that the players/owners are willng to lose the momemtum and buzz created by the great season last year that culimated with an LA victory. But they are; will it have an impact when they eventually do return to the ice, maybe. When I hear die hard fans (none more loyal than Pav and Dave) suggest they are done with the season tickets or may downsize, it speaks volumes.

Some say it is greed versus greed. Is it really? It is the nature of Companies to make money, increase revenues and net profit. Is that greed? Are organizations like IBM, Cisco, Apple, GM/Toyota/Honda greedy; they do have to pacify their share holders but for the most part, their employees are happy and accept that they have a job because of their “greed”!. I will always concede that the owners are far better at their core business activity than that they are running hockey teams and share responsibility for the impasse by offering outragous contracts and cannibalizing the league with offer sheets etc. But, who are the greedy ones here? The owners build and run a team/League that allows boys to play a game they love and get extremely well paid for it. Ask any hockey player what they would rather be doing? Would Chris Philips be the owner of the Big Rig had he not been making millions of dollars for being an average defenceman? Would they be driving their Porches, living in multi-million dollar homes, retire before they are 40 without a worry if they were so hard done by?

You may say that the owners are greedy but that is the nature of business and unions were formed to protect the worker from being gouged. Are the members of their union being gouged? I suspect that Gordon Geko was right, greed is good, good for the employees. The money the greedy owners are getting by negotiating better deals with the networks, increasing the brand recognition outside in and outside North America, sale of pricey merchandize and food all help pay the boys who play a game they love, earn more money and live a life style they could only dreamed about. It is the old addage I suspect, the more you get, the moe you want. Like many international organizations HP is laying off thousands; Bell, Smart, Adobe, Alcatel, the Fed Gvt are all downsizing significantly. But the hockey players are hard done by the owners! Chris says he feels sorry for the fans (right Chris?) but he is all too willing to collect his disgusting 4m/yr! He’s aware the fans he feels so sorry for, absorb the cost by paying higher ticket prices, basically driving the average fan permanently away from Scotia Bank because the costs are too prohibitive. I think the players have lost grip of reality! So I ask, who are the greedy ones and exactly who are the ones being gouged?

I can’t believe how the players are blindly following their union leaders AGAIN into another possible lost season. Chris Phillips stated that “the players won’t win this”. That should tell him somethng.

The minimum salary is $600,000 a season. The players should forget about determining what percentage they should get of the hockey related revenue and just negotiate a fair amount for a fixed salary cap for the duration of the next agreement. Whether that amouint is 50 million or 70 million, the players will still be making their millions, and so will the owners. To me it is very simple, at the end of the agreement, a new fixed salary cap can be negotiated accordingly. In other words, forget about the HRR amount. This can be resolved so easily, it’s just being made overly complicated.

I was once a hockey fanatic. I’ve watched the great ones play live – Orr, Howe, Gretzky, Tretriak, Khralamov, Hull etc. I was excited when the referees were instructed to call the rules after the last lockout which led to great hockey for 3/4 of the season. Then the same old same old rodeo crept back into the league. I watch very few games now as I find the game boring as hell. This old guy will NEVER attend another hockey game again. These ruthless owners & one dimensional players have insulted me for the last time!

So the minor league affiliate is now 5-0 if you include the preseason (and this optimist DOES) after a picture perfect 3-1 road victory. For the most part the youngsters have played well but the team is also getting contributions from some “veteran” players that are showing they may well deserve at least a little extra peek from the big guys. Below are the highlights:

1. David Dziurzynski scored the opening and closing goals and both were impressive. He sniped the first goal of the game after a sneaky drag move and firing it through the D-man’s legs top glove hand (assists to Stone and Cowen)

2. Wiercioch scored on the PP with a one-time blast from the point after some very good work down low by the forwards that fed the point for an uncontested shot (assists Cowen and Grant)

3. When Kesler was talked about as scoring, “the greatest empty net goal ever” I wanted to throw up not only because the US beat Canada but also because I was disgusted at how excited people were about a friggin’ empty net goal…I can now sort of relate…David Dziurzynski created a turn-over inside the B-Sens territory late in the game when the Amerks had pulled their goalie and fought his way down the ice into the opposition end only to have his shot blocked by the defender blanketing him…he regained control, kept his feet moving to get around the sprawled defender and made a hard move to the net to deposit it – a great hard nosed goal to remove any doubt about the games outcome.

- Stone was open but close to being covered in the slot on the empty netter – would have been nice to see him score his second goal (first was in preseason and into an empty net) as a pro but he played a strong game and had some dominating shifts in the first period. – didn’t keep that up through the entire game but this is two games in a row that he is out in the final minute so Luke must see something he liked in his positioning or hockey IQ to have him on the ice

- Zibby was a stand-out again even though he didn’t register a point. Had one chance in the 2nd from the top of the circle after a pretty pass from Benoit but his half slapper was gloved down…it looked like it was labelled and there is no question he has an above average NHL shot and above average speed – the kid can really fire it. Made a few nice passes and was hard on the puck all night but turned away from opposition rather than laying the body too many times (I think this is an anomaly though as he seems to enjoy contact)

- Sly was merely OK once again and while he had a couple opportunities that might have turned into good chance the opposition D always managed to get their stick or body in front of a pass or shot

- Petersson was underwhelming for the second straight game and while he had some chances on the PP he just didn’t look as dangerous as I would have exptected

- Hoffman wasn’t nearly as noticeable as the previous game but he flashed his speed a few times and you just know he is a dark horse to get some NHL time…classic late bloomer set to turn 23 this November

- DaCosta was pretty to watch even after jumping into a regular season game after being injured the last few weeks. I will defer to the wisdom that comes with age here so I don’t know he will be NHL material but the dangle, vision and shot he displays will have him be a top AHL player for this team if he is unable to make the jump

- David Dziurzynski looked good all night…kid is big and has a nose for the net…potentially another revelation and someone that I can see holding down a spot on the 4th line in the years to come >> Grant is another one who may be able to fill that role

- Cowen was very good in the way you want a big young kid to be – he was hard to play against in his own end and toned down his “I am an NHL player so I should try and do WAY too much” mentality and you could see the positive impact it had on his game. His 2 assists weren’t of the highlight variety but he was in the right spot to make a play and looks very comfortable on the PP. He now has 3 assists through 2 regular season games

- Cowick had some fire early but AHL is most likely his ceiling

- Wiercioch looked noticeably bigger and it was very nice to see him pot a goal off a nice one-time feed in his first game back. He was poised and moved the puck as expected but lots of room to improve

- Gryba had a couple nice hits along the boards and didn’t have the glaring position errors he had in game 1

- Benoit should be in the NHL for someone…he can easily be a 6-7 D in the league and it is nice to know we have someone to call up if needed

- Borocop seemed a little too amped for this game and his 3 penalties are a result. Not all were bad but one was clearly a case of him not moving his feet and losing position

Lehner wasn’t outstanding but he did save 32 of 33 shots and he looked calm and cool all night long. It wasn’t a tough 33 shots though as the Bingo boys did a nice job of keeping most things to the outside.

Still, Lehner has been very good so far and you can only stop what they throw on net…keep it up kid.

I couldn’t agree with you more Mikey! We have to realize and it is not a shot, that most of the players in the NHL have perhaps a highschool education and have been coddled since they demonstrated a God gift for the game. Hockey, was (still is) their life. To see many of them standing behind the Farlley Brothers in a transparent show of unity, I had to laugh. Do they even know what was going on? Did they reallfy think they could win this fight? Did they beleive lost income could ever be recovered? As you suggested, they blindly follow their Union Leader and LEARN to hate and distrust…hey, but they do feel some compassion for the fans don’t they?!

Please don’t insult our intelingence (in my case the 2 active brain cells…on a good day) by suggesting your digging your heals in to protect the future players….shaddup! If the players are digging in, it is only because they were told. Wouldn’t it be interesting to know exactly how many support their position? I hear GMs say they put their trust and have faith in the Commish….many were players at one time and I suspect their dispostion would be entirely different if they were still playing. Silly bugger at its best I say.

I don’t like the Smug Smurph and his side kick, nor do I like the Farlley Brothers; you have to wonder, if indeed the ideal situation is to have a partnership between the players and the owners, wouldn’t ex-hockey players who have earned a law degree after their playing years do a better job?

Mikey, I suspect like Randy-Bill Clinton is still searching for the definition of what is meant by “is”, the disfunctional “family” is still trying to wrap words around the definition of HRR.

The NHL have now introduced the 50-50 split and it sounds more than reasonable to me (to think that Smug Smurph agreed to 57 -43 last go around leaves me wondering who/why he kept his job). Yet, IO hear some players still grumbling. It was ineresting to listen to Kypreos who has a great deal of difficulty articulating a thought, asking John Shannon last night why it took Smug Smurph this long to offer the 50-50 plan. But as Shannon pointed out, there was nothing stopping the Farlley Brothers doing the same months ago.

I am with you Jimmie B, I was a hockey fanatic…now I am just a freaky fan of good hockey. I will not pay the outragous cost for a seat to see a game live anymore (the best seat is on the 60 inch HD TV with the ability to pause, scroll back, slow mo and best yet, tape so that I can blow off fools like Potsie, Brownie, Mendie, Willie, Yorkie (he played in the NHL you know).

I miss the games and will watch them when they return but I will feel differently about the players. I heard that the players will not care if 82, 72 or 62 games are played should the season resume. Doesn’t it speak volumes about their collective compassion for those regular folks who have been laid off because there are no games being played (on the ice).

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About the authors

Bruce Garrioch is an award-winning journalist and a must-read in the hockey community. A Day-Oner at the Ottawa Sun, Garrioch is one of the top sports journalists in the country, covering the Senators since their return to the NHL in 1992-93. A 2009 winner of an Ontario Newspaper Award for his coverage of the Dany Heatley saga, Garrioch has a strong ability to break news and brings inside information with his Sunday NHL column, one of the most popular in the country. It is read by GMs, players and coaches who want the inside scoop. Garrioch has covered the 2008 Stanley Cup final for Sun Media, the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City and 2006 Games in Turin, Italy. Mainly, Garrioch has the pulse of the Ottawa Senators. If people want to know what's happening they turn to him to get the info on contracts, negotiations, signings, trades and, of course, games.

Don Brennan is a Day 1 employee of the Ottawa Sun. He has spent the majority of his 23 years as a sports reporter/columnist, covering the Senators since their return to the NHL in 1992, and prior to that writing about the Rough Riders, 67's and other sports. Brennan also wrote a Page 6 column in the Sun for nine months. A native of North Bay, Brennan moved to attend Centennial College in 1978. He remained in Toronto for a decade, working first as a freelancer, than an editor with the Toronto Sun. Brennan has lived in Ottawa full time ever since.

Don Brennan and Bruce Garrioch are Ottawa's all-star hockey writing duo, and will be regularly contributing to Off The Posts.

Their combined experience covering local, national and international hockey means they have the sources to get the inside information on the Senators and the NHL which might not be available to others.

Check back often for notes, quotes and commentary. They might even disagree with each other once in awhile.